Stephen Paul Hartke (born July 6, 1952) is an American composer. Hartke is best known as the composer of Meanwhile – Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2013. Following a twenty six-year tenure at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California, Hartke became the head of Oberlin Conservatory's composition department on July 1, 2015.